


Hierophant

by Dr_Madwoman



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blue and Yellow are moms coping with a magically enabled teenager, Courtroom Drama, Criminal trial, F/F, Fusion Taboo, Homeworld is Horrible, I was initially wary of having the Diamonds have a giant family argument in the middle of Court, Justice is Relative, Oops, Pink apparently reads Arthurian romances and Mary Renault, Pink is so desperate to be taken seriously, Pink is too much like her mothers to handle this gracefully, Pink ships them like FedEx, Teen Rebel Pink, Yellow and Blue have been married since their emergence, Yellow's temper paired terribly with Blue's love of Drama, and then I remembered The Trial, law does not work this way, she tries REALLY hard, who will present them with The Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 20:06:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17535374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Madwoman/pseuds/Dr_Madwoman
Summary: Young Pink Diamond learns the meaning of justice at Blue Diamond's knee. As it turns out, it is not particularly just at all.





	Hierophant

Pink had initially been overjoyed when Blue had told her that she would be allowed to sit beside her in the Hall of Justice, feeling herself one step closer to receiving a full Court if her own. However, one hour of endless legal trivialities had destroyed any excitement Pink had felt. She draped herself over the armrest of Blue's throne, abandoning all dignity as boredom threatened to grind her mind to dust.

“How do you bear this, Blue? The complaining? The _documentation?”_ Pink demanded, flapping her hand at the next group of supplicants as though they alone embodied the unyielding tedium of the whole legal process. Blue did not seem bored, for her part. She sat tall in her throne, alert and aloof before their subjects.

“It must be borne. Justice is not as simple as war.”

“Heh! I'll have to tell Yellow that.” Pink said, grinning up at her.

“You will do no such thing.” Blue said, all sternness, but she playfully prodded Pink in the chest in the next moment. Pink stifled a laugh and squirmed away, conscious of the eyes of their people. It was bad enough that all of Yellow’s Jaspers still thought of her as a soft little newcut!

As though summoned by Pink’s thoughts Yellow came striding in then, her expression blank and sparks flying from her form. She barked a dismissal at the gathered supplicants and stepped over them all to reach the dais where Blue and Pink sat, scattering the slow-footed without a second glance. Yellow took her throne, and her face was carefully remote in the way that meant she was truly upset. Pink tried to catch her eye but was like trying to communicate with an expanse of wall.

“We have an urgent case. White wants us to try it together.” She said, her voice flat. Blue glanced at her from under her veil, taking the measure of Yellow's tense shoulders and deep frown.

“What sort of of case is it?” She asked, plainly worried.

“Military.” Yellow said, and nothing more.

Pink sat up at the end of Blue’s armrest, settling her hands in her lap  and wishing fervently for a throne of her own. An urgent military case seemed promising, but any entertainment she might have gotten from the idea was stifled by Yellow’s unhappiness. Pink glanced between her and Blue, who was now looking unhappy too. White liked to jest that they were two entities with a single mind, so quickly did they pass feelings and thoughts between them. White meant to mock them, but Pink thought it was rather sweet.

The urgent case turned out to be General Moss Jasper Facet-9X7L, Cut-7XC, a warrior  renowned for her daring and devotion to the Empire, the hero of a thousand conflicts. She came shackled and weary, but walked in under her own power, escorted by what seemed to Pink like an entire battalion of White Quartzes. The Jasper straightened up and bowed low at the waist to her Diamonds, respectful to her last atom. 

“Moss Jasper Facet-9X7L, Cut-7XC has come to answer for her crimes, my Diamonds.” the leader of the Quartzes intoned, and Pink shivered to hear her eerily flat voice. Blue raised her hand in formal acknowledgement, all her worry tucked neatly away.

“We receive the criminal into the Hall of Justice. What is her offense?”

It was Yellow who answered, her voice grating out of her as though it cost dearly to speak.

“Cross-fusion with Dendritic Agate Facet-2C5W, Cut-5VC.”

Pink stifled a gasp and turned to stare up at Yellow to see if it was true, if such a thing were possible. Her mentor’s face was impassive, but there was a tense line drawn between her brows, and her hands gripped the arms of her throne with terrible strength. Pink turned to look back at Moss Jasper in mingled disgust and curiosity, searching her form for any signs of corruption. It was known that cross-fusion tainted the Gems that attempted it, and the resultant form was always deformed in some way--surely there would be a sign of it on this warrior.

Yet Moss Jasper stood calmly there before them, shoulders back and head up, her form a lovely smooth white dappled with green. She possessed the typical two arms and two legs, and had such an air of self-possession that Pink immediately liked her--how could she not, when she so clearly bore Yellow’s stamp? Pink was so busy scrutinizing the prisoner that she nearly missed Blue’s response to all of this.

“That is a grave crime. Summon the defense Zircon, and we shall begin the trial.”

At this Moss Jasper lifted her eyes to them, steady like any good soldier, and spoke up.

“With all due respect, your Brilliance, that will not be necessary.”

Without warning the closest White Quartz struck Moss Jasper a terrible blow across her midsection with her spear, sending a jolt of electricity coursing through her. Pink clasped her hands over her mouth as the Jasper dropped to her knees, writhing in silent pain until the spear was withdrawn.

“How dare you address her Luminousness, filth! Mind your mouth until told otherwise.”

“That is enough, Captain.” Blue called, her voice cold and sharp. “Moss Jasper, do you mean to say that you will confess, and accept the sentence?”

Below them Moss Jasper got her feet under her and slowly stood again, shaking her wild hair from her eyes. Pink wanted to cheer but knew better than to show her sympathy; instead she looked as kindly as she could at the warrior, who she had heard tales of since her earliest days. Moss Jasper bowed her head.

“I will confess and accept your justice, my Diamonds. I can’t deny that I’ve violated the laws of the Authority, and I won’t shirk my punishment.”

“Very well. Let us begin.”

Blue questioned Moss Jasper about the particulars of her betrayal of Gem law. The general answered her questions with quiet efficiency, laying down fact on fact as though constructing a wall. All the while Pink watched her, and watched Yellow stare down the far wall of the Hall as though it had offended her. She held herself rigid throughout, cold and still, and Pink half-feared that a touch would shatter her. 

Pink flinched, and tried very hard to keep from thinking of shattering.

Gradually, the story of Moss Jasper and the Dendritic Agate became known. The Agate had been stationed with one of the general’s rowdier battalions of Amethysts, to keep them sharp for the conquest of the Moirae galaxy. She had initially caught Moss Jasper’s attention due to her careful balance of ferocity and fairness when training the Amethysts, a complex work that she admired greatly.

“Ferny, she has a way about her. Prickly, but gentle too, when gentleness is needed. The Amethysts were falling over themselves to please her in a lunar cycle.”

To Pink’s amazement, Moss Jasper shook her head and laughed, smiling softly.

“I was too, come to think on it.” 

She stood bound and beaten, her career in ruins, her gem on the line, and yet she laughed! Rather than fear, there was relief, as though the secret of it all had weighed heavy on her. The fondness she felt for the Agate was shining through like sunlight through crystal, warm and sustaining. It was, Pink thought, precisely like the old tales of heroic bonded pairs that Blue had told her as a newcut, warriors bound together in honor for the glory of the Authority. 

Except there had never been fusion with a noncombatant in those stories.

“Why did you do it, Moss? What possible reason could you have for fusing with an  _ Agate, _ of all Gems?”

Pink turned to see that Yellow had called herself back from wherever she had gone inside her head, her golden eyes burning as they fixed on the general. There was anger there, yes, but Pink also saw grief in that look, and remembered how Moss Jasper had fought at Yellow’s side for centuries. The Jasper bowed low to Yellow, reverence in her face as she beheld her creator.

“I love her, my Diamond. That is all.”

Though they said nothing, Pink heard her mentors react to this admission; the clink of armor as Yellow froze, the susurration of cloth as Blue shivered. Tears welled in Pink’s eyes, because it suddenly all seemed so  _ wrong _ . Yellow glared at the Jasper, and the look alone was a curse. Without another word she turned turned her head away--not from Moss, Pink noticed, but rather from Blue.

“Fusion outside of wartime crisis is a crime, Moss Jasper. Fusion for no purpose, with a Gem not of your type, is an  _ abomination _ . There can be no mercy for you.” Blue spoke with horrible finality, her soft and sweet voice now a sword swinging down. Pink scrambled to her feet on the armrest, fists balled at her sides, tears in her eyes, all thoughts of propriety thrown aside because this wasn’t  _ fair. _

“Blue, you  _ can’t! _ ”

Pink wanted to flinch when both her mentors turned their eyes on her, but she stood resolute. 

“ _ What  _ did you just say, Pink?” Yellow asked, in the way the implied she absolutely knew what had been said but was giving Pink a chance to unsay it. Pink gathered up her courage in both hands and plunged ahead, hoping that her regeneration wouldn’t take too long.

“I...I firmly believe that we must not execute. The Authority cannot afford to lose one of our finest generals due to a simple mistake! Surely you can give her a chance to make amends? She’s a hero!”

She felt very small in the long shadows of Blue and Yellow, who were looking at her with the same disdain they used on the Pearls when they fell short in their duties. It made her want to hit them, just then, to make them stop looking at her like she was a fool, to keep them from hurting a Gem who hadn’t really done anything so terrible.

“You speak of things you do not understand, Pink Diamond, and it is your inexperience alone that spares you from punishment. Sit down and keep silent.” Blue snapped, all her majesty gone, her mouth a livid slash in her face. 

“She has done  _ nothing wrong _ .” Pink ground out, riding the pulse of anger ever onward.

“She broke the  _ law _ , Pink.” Yellow said from behind her, and Pink wanted to throw something at her.

“The law is  _ stupid _ , then.”

As a counterargument, it was slag. Even through the red haze of rage Pink knew this. But it  _ was  _ stupid, and just because two Gems had fallen in love and joined together for the joy of it, didn’t mean the Authority would come crashing down overnight. 

“Pink Diamond you will apologize to Blue Diamond  _ now. _ ” Yellow snarled, her teeth locked together. Blue’s mouth had all but disappeared, so tightly was she pressing her lips together. Under normal circumstances Pink would be making herself as inoffensive as possible, but the gauntlet was down and she would not relinquish Moss Jasper’s life at a mere look.

“I won’t apologize for speaking the truth! This is a clean thing, not something shameful! You two of all people should  _ know  _ this!”

Pink knew this was exactly the wrong thing to say the split second she said it, but it was too late to reign herself in. Both Yellow and Blue surged to their feet, towering above Pink in their outrage, too overcome to form coherent sentences.

“You  _ dare _ \--!”

“Pink  _ Diamond _ I cannot  _ believe _ \--!”

Amid the storm there came a voice from the floor, small and quiet but no less piercing.

“Pardon me, your Radiences.”

Abruptly they all remembered that there was a criminal trial going on. Pink looked back down at Moss Jasper and the impassive White Quartzes, and wanted to cringe in embarrassment. The general looked back at them, utterly unafraid in the face of the wrath of Diamonds.

“Speak, general.” Yellow snapped.

“Your mercy is well meant, Pink Diamond, but my crime can’t go unpunished. Reckless fusion is a danger to all. I’ve got to answer for my choice.” she said.She smiled as she said it, very soft, and Pink wondered for a terrible moment if everyone else was insane, or if it was only her.

Meanwhile, Moss Jasper turned her entire attention onto Yellow.

“I’m sorry, my Diamond. I’ve betrayed your trust, and that is the one thing I regret most of all.”

“Your regrets are less than worthless to me, Moss.”

“I understand. But I would still beg a last favor, as a soldier to her commander.Don’t shatter Ferny. She’s a good trainer, the best I’ve ever seen. It would be a waste...such a terrible waste.”

At last the peaceful mask slipped, and Moss Jasper’s eyes filled with tears. Pink made a move to do something--jump down to hug her, tackle the Captain of the Guard, she wasn’t sure which-- but Blue’s hand caught her around the middle and swept her off her feet.

“Pink Diamond, you will return to your chambers until you are sent for.”

“Blue, wait!” Pink howled, but already she was encased in an impenetrable shell of blue light, her hands scrabbling frantically at the curvature of the bubble as Blue turned her gaze onto the accused. Even in the confines of the bubble, Pink could hear the finality in Blue’s voice as the sentence was handed down.

“Moss Jasper Facet-9X7L, Cut-7XC, you have been found guilty of cross-fusion in a time of peace. For this you will be shattered, and your shards ground to dust. By the might and wisdom of the Authority, it shall be done.”

Pink screamed when Moss Jasper bowed her head in acceptance, and her last sight before Blue banished her from the Hall was of Yellow drawing her terrible two-headed axe and preparing to land the fatal blow. Blue’s bubble spirited Pink away to her chambers, where she gathered up her little Pebbles with hands that shook and gave them into Pearl’s care. She told her to take them into the hall and keep them entertained, and to not come into the main room no matter what she heard inside. Pearl accepted the Pebbles with trepidation, worried and wanting to say something, but too well-trained to dare.

“Of course, my Diamond.”

Pink held on until her Pearl had safely left the room before she let herself go, and the first shattered wall did nothing to soothe her, nor did the second. The floor tried to produce targets for her to fight but they were no right, not in size or shape or seeming, because what she wanted to hurt could not be hurt, not by her, but she smashed the living stone to splinters and howled all the same.

All told Pink’s fury and grief burned for three days, and by the time she sank down into a miserable huddle on the floor her chamber was a ruin. The Diamond line hummed somewhere in the wreckage, low but insistent, but Pink left it unanswered. She did not trust what she would say to them now, nor did she want to endure a lecture.

“Cushion.”

Her voice was wrecked too, so cracked and quiet that Pink hardly recognized it. Her room absorbed a heap of splintered furnishings into itself and produced a resting place of wonderful softness in the cleared space. Pink was crawling to the cushion even before it had fully materialized, mace slipping from her hand as she collapsed into the depths of it.

She meditated then, or something close to it. Her mind slipped from her form and wandered, from Moss Jasper to Yellow and Blue to that poor Agate and back again, round and round in a cycle unending. She saw the faces of her mentors as they looked down on their long-time champion, disgust hiding a deeper fear, and how their honor fell away from them in that moment.

Where was Blue Diamond the Just? Where was Yellow Diamond the Valiant? Who were these strangers, who denied the love of others and so denied themselves?

Why wouldn’t they  _ listen _ ?

A sensation of wetness on her face drew her back into her body, and Pink realized that she was crying. She gave herself up to it as easily as she'd given herself to the anger, because it was in Pink's nature to love as deeply as she raged. She had failed her subject, failed a hero of the Empire, and now all that towering strength and glorious courage would be ground into nothing, like she had never been there at all.

And somewhere out there, an Agate was crying too. Maybe she had heard of the sentence already. Or maybe White's soldiers had arrested her too, and Yellow had shattered her.

A gentle touch startled Pink from her crying and she lifted her head to see her Pearl sitting nervously beside the cushion, her hand stroking Pink's hair.

“Pearl? I told--”

“I couldn't leave you, my Diamond. I knew once the... activity died down, you would have need of me.” Pearl blurted, her hand flinching up as though doubting her decision.

“Please keep going, that's nice. And you aren't in trouble, Pearl. You know me too well, I think.”

Pink smiled at her Pearl, who was the sweetest Gem in all the Empire, and laid her head back down when Pearl began to stroke her hair again. Pearl settled closer to her and began humming something pretty, a song Pink didn't know. Pearl had probably come up with it herself; she was so smart that way, always thinking of new songs or little mechanical fixes. Yellow would no doubt call her an aberration, but Pink loved to see Pearl striving.

“Where are the Pebbles, by the way?”

“I left them with Blue Pearl for now.”

“Oh. She should like that.” Pink said. She had observed that Blue's Pearl seemed to like watching over the little Gems. Everyone wanted to be looked up to, even Pearls.

Pink laid quietly under Pearl's hand, eyes half-lidded and her mind blissfully empty. She had almost started meditating again when she felt a subtle vibration pass through the floor, far off but growing every second. She sighed.

“By the door, Pearl. I'm due another scolding.”

“But--”

“Pearl.”

She got up and left Pink's side, taking up her post by the door without comment. Pink didn't issue many direct orders anymore, but on this she insisted. She refused to endanger this Pearl.

By now the vibrations in the floor had intensified, and Pink could hear footsteps in the hall outside her chamber. As predicted, Yellow barged into her room a moment later, followed closely by Blue. Both were clearly worried and struggling to hide it, but Pink was suddenly too tired to feel anything but resigned. 

“Pink, this tantrum has gone on long enough.” 

Blue came to sit beside Pink on her cushion, her voice sweet and soft again. Her hand hovered over Pink's back, but Pink twitched her shoulder to ward off the touch.

“We've been trying to contact you for  _ days _ . You cannot simply ignore the Diamond line because you didn't get your way, Pink.” Yellow's voice cut like a lash in the silence, and her feet filled Pink’s field of vision as she towered over her and Blue.

“Apologies.” Pink muttered, as unapologetically as possible. She let them all lapse into uncomfortable quiet, unwilling to carry what would surely prove to be a pointless conversation. Yellow stood staring down at her, obviously expecting some kind of defiance, and sat down on Pink's other side with a huff when the quiet crawled on.

“We didn't make this room for you so you could destroy it regularly, Pink. Honestly, have you no respect for-- how in White's name did you manage to get that axe into the ceiling?”

“Determination.” Pink said dully, and she heard Yellow hum in vague approval.

“Well, at least you have been taking some of your training into consideration.”

Pink didn't take the bait, but rested her head on her arms and waited for her mentors to get to the point. She could almost feel them glancing at each other over her back, neither of them sure of what to do. Eventually, Blue sighed.

“What can we do to bring you out of this sulk?” Blue asked, gentle and reproachful. At once Pink rolled over and sat up, meeting Blue’s eyes.

“Give me the Agate. If she’s still whole, I want her for my Court.”

“What, and have her fusing with every Jasper in your Guard?” Yellow sneered. “Those sorts will always relapse, no matter what is done to deter them.”

Pink shook her head and shot Yellow a sidelong look.

“If something happened to Blue, would you be so quick to fuse with another?”

Yellow froze, and Pink sat miserable between her and Blue for the longest time. She expected Yellow to storm out, and for Blue to go after her, but instead Yellow looked at Blue in that way she sometimes had, soft and helpless with love.

“No.” 

Pink only nodded and folded her hands in her lap. The three of them sat and looked at nothing together, tense and unhappy.

“ Moss is-- _ was  _ the more visible of the criminals. Perhaps White will allow the Agate to be reprogrammed.” Yellow said, very carefully. Pink snapped her head up to stare at Yellow, hardly daring to hope.

“Do you really think so?”

“It will give you an opportunity to be learn how to correct a wayward Gem.” Blue said thoughtfully. Pink opened her mouth to object to the idea that the Agate needed fixing, but closed it again. She recognized a gift when it was given.

“Thank you.” She said, and reached up to squeeze one of Yellow's fingers. Yellow nodded curtly. Pink understood then that even though Yellow insisted on passing the sentence on Moss Jasper, the loss of the great general still affected her. Pink squeezed her finger again.

“I am sorry.”

“It was necessary.” Yellow said. Blue reached over and took her hand then, lacing their fingers together and holding fast. Pink saw Yellow's blank look waver for the slightest moment, regret overtaking resolution, but then she was pushing up from the cushion, straightening her jacket with precise movements.

“Come on, Pink. Let's go to the training ground and channel your destructive urges  _ constructively.” _

She offered her hand to Blue and helped her up, and Pink let herself be redirected. And on the sands of Yellow’s personal arena, things almost seemed normal again. Yellow assumed a smaller size, just for Pink, and they stabbed cheerfully at one another while Blue cheered Pink and heckled Yellow shamelessly from the sidelines. Yet Pink’s smiles faded fast, and her laughter was a shadow, and she could not shake the feeling that Yellow and Blue were strangers now.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So. Um. This isn't the epilogue to Shades of Green, and I'm very sorry for that, but it just had to be written! I've been tinkering with my conception of Pink Diamond lately and I wanted to let her stretch her legs. However! I have most of the epilogue written out! And it should be posted within the next few days! I'm just debating going for the realistic version, or the happy version.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoyed TeenRebel!Pink, who is all of three hundred years old and is SO READY for someone to take her ideas seriously. This takes place around a century after the second chapter of Shades of Green.
> 
> Pink just wants everyone to be OKAY, okay?
> 
> PS: Yellow's Jaspers are essentially an entire army of cool aunties to Pink, who all think her attempts at being a Grown Diamond are ADORABLE. For every humiliating moment in Pink's life, there has always been a minimum of three Jaspers to bear witness to it and recall it decades later.


End file.
